regexp

/rɛɡˈɛp/

Definitions

1. noun

A pattern specified in a formal language, used for matching character combinations in strings of text.

“The programming language uses regular expressions to validate user input.”

2. verb

To search for a pattern in a string of text using a regular expression.

“The tool will regex the data to find any suspicious activity.”

3. abbreviation

Short for regular expression.

“The programmer needed to write a regex to parse the JSON data.”

Synonyms

  • expression
  • pattern

Antonyms

  • exact
  • literal